Tulips
by Deziray
Summary: He knew hydrangeas were her favorite. However, he still hoped that the tulips would be enough to break through her shell. Chuck/Blair. Based on the song by Bloc Party.


_He knew hydrangeas were her favorite. However, he still hoped that the tulips would be enough to break through her shell. Chuck/Blair. Based on the song by Bloc Party._

I hope you enjoy the story, as I know I have enjoyed writing it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Tulips

He had been to the Waldorf pent house, to the Palace, and to just about every store in town looking for the petite brunette who seemed to vanish into thin air. He kept on searching his brain of any other place that he could have possibly forgot to look.

The rain that started to pour outside did nothing to calm his jumpy nerves as he was now not only worried for Blair Waldorf's safety but also for her health. Still he continued looking. As they drove through the streets of New York, his eyes kept on resting on the bouquet of red and white tulips that lay next to them in the cab. They caused his thoughts to drift back to earlier in the day, before Blair ran off and before he became racked with worry for her.

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Earlier that day…

The world seemed to simply float past the tumultuous couple as they strolled through the park. Blair, trying to convince herself it was the weather and not her jittery nerves that had her shaking; and Chuck, trying to figure out a way to repair the months of pain he had caused the both of them to suffer through.

After returning from his descent into the unknown, Chuck had managed to talk Blair into meeting him for a friendly get together. And after numerous attempts at talking to her and convincing her he wouldn't try anything during their outing, she finally agreed to meet with him.

He had insisted they go have lunch, but upon his offer Blair retorted with, "This isn't a date Chuck". Although he flinched at her harsh response, the butterflies in his stomach still danced with joy at the prospect of even getting time alone to spend with Blair.

They had decided on the park. It seemed like the only neutral meeting ground for them seeing as how both of their homes had memories of nights well spent, soft words, and then abandonments. It was already enough that Blair was going to be alone with him, let alone be in a place that brought back unpleasant memories.

They continued walking on through the park and every now and again Chuck would ask her harmless questions about her Mother and Cyrus, Yale, and her upcoming role in the school play.

"So I heard you got the leading role in Romeo and Juliet," Chuck asked.

Blair nodded and said, " Yeah, I was shocked when I found out I got the part of Juliet. But after I started attending rehearsals I discovered that acting gave me a sort of release for things." She didn't have to go into detail about the type of things that she needed release from. Chuck already knew.

Although he was interested in small talk with Blair, inside he was still struggling to find the courage to say what he had been attempting to say the whole time. Still no thoughts came to mind and he had to opt for continuing to talk to Blair about the play. Besides she was actually starting to respond to him and that was better than nothing.

"When is the performance?" he asked, even though he already knew the date and time and had purchased a front row ticket the minute he heard about her starring role.

Blair looked at him and replied, "May 26". She was beginning to lose patience at all of Chuck's meaningless questions. What did he care about her role in the school play? It's not like he would stay long enough to see her perform. These thoughts continued to boil up inside and she didn't know how much longer she could take of his pointless questions before she strangled him with his scarf.

Chuck answered, "I'll be there".

Blair stopped walking and suddenly turned to him and said, "Are you sure? Because May is still a while away and we all know you have a tendency to take off to God knows where at the drop of a pin!"

Chuck knew that Blair was still bitter about him leaving, but her comment still caused him to flinch. He met her eyes and noticed that tears were beginning to form at the corners. She was also shaking and her cheeks were a deep shade of red. He attempted to calm her by placing his hands on her shoulders but she would have none of it. Their civility towards each other had evaporated and all that was left was the raw feelings and emotional wounds that were now exposed to themselves and to each other.

Chuck decided to speak first, "Listen, I know I left, but I did it for you. You have to believe me. I would have destroyed what we had worked so hard to preserve. I didn't want to destroy the memories of us we had. I wanted you to have the chance to move on". He attempted to once again move towards her but she took a step back.

Blair refused to believe him instead replying, "Bullshit Chuck! You were being a coward. You didn't want to protect me, if anything you just wanted to make sure that your poor excuse of heart didn't have to open up to the only thing that truly loved it!"

At hearing this, Chuck chose to ignore her unwillingness to be touched by him and closed the space between them. Despite her protests and the pain that shot up his leg when she dug her heel in his foot, he encircled her in his arms and refused to let go.

He attempted to soother with his words, "Blair I-" but was cut short by her muffled cries as she still struggled against him.

"No, you don't get to be the hero Chuck. You left me after I put myself on the line. My heart, my feelings, my… love and you still wanted to leave? After all I had said, you didn't care enough to really stay. You didn't think about what this would do to me!"

Chuck still held fast as her accusations against him continued to pile up. He knew the only way to convince her of his honesty was to tell her. Tell her and finally show her his jagged little heart that, after being drowned with expensive alcohol and cheap sex still managed only to beat for the little Brunette back home. He had to step up to the plate if he didn't want to lose the only reason he had to get up out of bed every morning.

"Blair, you have to believe me. You might not understand why I did what I did, but it was only ever to make sure that you were safe. Please don't push me away. I've changed, you have to believe me", Chuck said.

Blair was now silently hiccupping in his arms and would occasionally make a weak attempt at pushing herself away but other than that she remained safely there. Chuck decided that now was the time to tell her the truth.

"Blair the reason I left, came back, and wanted to see you and start over with you is because I love you", he said.

Blair's heart stopped and her insides suddenly found themselves sprawled all over the ground in Central Park. This was it. He said them. Those three words. This was the glorious climax in _The Chuck and Blair Movie_.

Chuck held his breath as he pulled back and searched Blair's eyes for something, anything to tell him that she had heard what he had said.

While her heart was elated, something else inside of her began to come to surface. Her emotions did not match the epic scene that had suddenly taken place before her. Feelings of fear, abandonment, and anger once again rose up within her and before he had a chance to pull her back into him she pushed him away fiercely and yelled, "No Chuck! You don't get to do that. You do get to put yourself on the line after you took my heart for a ride and dragged it all over hell!" Not leaving him a chance to respond, she ran away from him and before he was able to catch up to her, hailed a cab and drove away.

Chuck stood there, speechless as he watched her cab get smaller and smaller in the distance. His first instinct was to feel angry with her, but these past few months had changed him. He understood, he truly did. He knew what he had told Blair must have scared her. He knew she was angry and felt that he was being unfair. In a way he knew he was. He expected her to forgive him as long as he said those three words. While he understood he was also allowing himself to hope. Hope that she could see the effort he put into those three words and at least accept him and accept what he had said as truth. It was then that he decided that he would not run away ever again. He would have to stay and convince her he was not leaving and he had to convince her that he finally been consumed by her. While he knew it would take a while, there was no place he would rather be.

After reorienting himself he hailed a cab and tried to think of a way to reapproach Blair.

Should he give her a few days to cool of? No, then she would think he never meant it.

Should he buy her more jewelry? She had enough. And diamonds just didn't seem to fit right into this equation.

Flowers? Now there's an idea. He knew she loved Hydrangeas. They were simple yet held so much personal meaning for Blair.

He told the cab driver to take him to the nearest Florist. However when he asked for Hydrangeas, he was told they were out. "What the hell do you mean they ran out of Hydrangeas?" He thought angrily.

He racked his mind as he attempted to think of the next best thing to get her. He would have to go with diamonds. But before he could exit the florist shop, the clerk at the counter stopped him. The clerk could see that the young boy was in quite a predicament. When he broke the news to him that they were out of hydrangeas, he saw the look of despair that overtook the boys face.

The elderly clerk spoke saying, "Excuse me young man. But if I might ask, what's so urgent that you need these hydrangeas? They couldn't be for that special someone I'm sure. I think you might want to go with some tulips instead".

Who did this man think he was? Telling him that hydrangeas weren't for that special someone. Apparently this man didn't know _his _Blair and that she adored them. So he scoffed and said, " Now why would I want those measly tulips over hydrangeas?" He really didn't have time to waste bickering with this old man in the first place and him questioning his choice in hydrangeas was either a bad sales pitch or meaningless advice.

As Chuck began walking away again, the clerk said, " I have been a florist for over 50 years and believe you me young man, I know that every flower has a meaning. Now unless you are trying to communicate feelings of heartlessness to someone, then you should have no intention of even wanting to give Hydrangeas."

The man had a point. Chuck slowly turned back to the clerk and waited for him to continue. The old man took this as his cue to introduce him to the tulips, "Now if you are trying to communicate feelings of love, you can never go wrong with tulips. Particularly the red tulips. They represent a declaration of love and a plea to someone to believe and hope." Chuck's eyes immediately met with the clerks and he knew that he had to get the tulips.

Chuck cleared his throat and asked, "Are there any tulips that say trust me?"

The clerk smiled, "No, but I do believe that white tulips represent a plea to take a chance".

Chuck smiled and said, "I'll take a dozen of each".

As the old man watched him walk out the door he couldn't help but wish the man good luck in his endeavors.

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The present…

The memory ended and Chuck looked out the window to see that they were passing through Greenwich Village. He had told the driver to search everywhere; he didn't think they'd end up here. He figured he might as well give it a look, just to be sure that he'd checked every place possible.

They stopped at a red light and Chuck once again glanced at the tulips. He was a little fearful at what Blair would say when he presented to her tulips and not hydrangeas. Broken or not, Blair was still immensely picky when it came to her taste in gifts and flowers. However if he knew Blair like he thought he did, she would know the meaning behind flowers. That's probably why hydrangeas were her favorite. They represented frigidity and heartlessness: a perfect description of his ice queen. However, after being told by the clerk the meaning behind the tulips, especially when he described that tulips in general represented feelings of security and home, he knew that tulips were the only flowers acceptable for the occasion. Feeling reassured once again by the meaning that lay behind the flowers, he willed himself to continue looking out the window for any sign of Blair.

He was beginning to lose hope; they had searched everywhere and came up empty handed. It was only when they had circled Washington Square Park for a third time that he spotted her. She was shivering, soaked, and standing in front of the fountain; he never thought she looked more beautiful. The rain had stopped for the time being and he slowly stepped out of the cab with the tulips in one hand, and his coat in the other. He walked slowly to her and stopped a couple of feet in front of her and simply watched her. He could hear her sniffles and he wasn't sure if she was crying or in the developing stages of a cold. Either way, he had found her and she was safe.

Her shoulders tensed up and he knew she had sensed him. Before she could turn around though he quickly slipped his coat over her shoulders. Rather than pulling it off, she pulled it tighter around herself, grateful for the warmth it brought. Slowly he stepped towards her and he was thankful when she didn't back away. As he brought up a hand to touch her face he pulled the tulips out from behind his back and gave them to her.

Blair was about to say something about flowers being a stupid form of apologies but stopped when she saw that he had gotten her tulips and not her favorites. Immediately she knew why he had chosen these. Of course she loved her hydrangeas, they represented her as what the world saw her as. The Queen B: mean, ruthless, and fierce. However she knew the meaning behind tulips. How could she not? Every girl memorized the meaning behind flowers, no matter who they were. To know that he had gotten them for her meant so much. Tulips represented a sense of home and love, and trust and hope, and she had been deprived of all of those when he had left her. Slowly she turned her eyes up to meet his.

Chucks breath caught in his throat when she raised her head to look at him. This was it, he was either going to be shot down by Blair for not getting her the proper flowers which would only lead to her closing him out even more than she already had today or she would understand the meaning behind these and she would listen.

She closed her eyes and softly uttered, "tulips". No malice in her voice, just a soft and thankful whisper. She understood.

_When you said tulips_

_I knew that you're mine_

_When I caught you there_

_Crying in the night_

He couldn't help but smile. His smile grew to a full grin when she opened her eyes and smiled back at him. It began to lightly drizzle and he was once again drawn to how beautiful she looked standing there delicately touching each tulip bulb as if reassuring herself that they meant what they did.

_Wearing my jacket_

_Wearing that smile_

_I knew that I'd found you_

He decided to speak, "Look Blair I know I shouldn't have told you that so soon. I know it was unfair for you, but I just need you to know that I'm willing to give it another try"

_This could be an opportunity_

She turned her attention back to his eyes and he could see the fear begin to well up in them again. He knew she was struggling to find the courage to accept him. Chuck suddenly became deathly afraid that she would close herself up again. He decided that maybe he should say it again.

He took her hand in his and said, "But, I love you Blair". Although he had said it once, he could still tell it caught her by surprise, that it was still so new to her that he loved her.

_Were you unawares_

_Did it catch you out?_

_Or did it break you in_

_Right from the start_

He saw her back away a little again, however he also noticed that she tightened her grip on the tulips. This gave him the courage to continue. He pulled her a little closer and said, "I love you Blair. And if it's going to take me having to say that to you every day and night until you believe it then damnit I'll do it".

The intensity that flashed through his eyes as he spoke to her was enough to burn away the doubt that began to creep its way back into her heart when he told her he loved her again.

_It's as pure as fire_

_It's as pure as snow_

_I knew that I'd found you_

Chuck could tell he was getting through to her because she failed to tense up and push away when he encircled an arm around her waist.

"Blair" he said, " I'm not asking you to forget about the months of pain and anger and all of the wounds that you still have to heal. All I'm asking is that you give us a chance and give me a chance to be there for you again. Just give us a chance".

_This could be an opportunity_

_If you promise to let it grow_

They both remained silent for a moment, him holding her and her turning to stare once again at the tulips. That's when she asked, "How do I know you are really here to stay?"

He tilted her chin up so she could look her in the eyes and said, " 'Cause you're the one I love".

She smiled and when he bent down to meet her lips, she didn't refuse.

_'Cause you're the one I love_

_'Cause you're the one I love_

_'Cause you're the one I love_

_'Cause you're the one I love_

The End

A/N: So I hope that all of you enjoyed it. _Tulips_ is one of my favorite songs and I figured that I should write my first GG story/one shot to it. I know that Washington Square Park is an unusual place to put into a GG fan fic but I went there for the summer and absolutely fell in love with the whole area. It was very peaceful and thought it gave the proper atmosphere for the story. This is my first attempt at writing in over two years so I am really anxious to know if this is any good. Please review because I would really enjoy to her what you all thought of it.

_-_Dez


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